The Warsaw Pact was the Eastern counterpart to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was created in 1955 and lasted throughout the Cold War before being officially terminated in 1991. "The pact differed from its Western counterpart by providing no unequivocal security guarantees to its members, particularly not an automatic commitment to their defense. In case of an attack on any one of them, each signatory state pledged to consult with others, and then render such assistance as "it may consider necessary." In the German version of the text, the pronoun used was "they," implying a decision to be made collectively rather than individually. " (Vojtech Mastny, The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Warsaw Pact in 1955)